One of the biggest surprises – and announcements – from Mayor Tom Henry’s State of the City address had little to do with city government at all.County assessors across northeast Indiana are getting a jump start on the next general property reassessment.
By law, reassessment occurs every four years and was to officially start Wednesday. The state budget bill, which was approved by the General Assembly on Tuesday, delayed reassessment until July 2010 to give counties enough time to get back to a normal tax bill schedule.
Because of a host of changes to the state’s property tax laws, counties have often mailed bills late since the last reassessment began in 2002.
Brown and Marion counties are still working on 2008 bills, and in Allen County, 2009 bills will be mailed later this month.
“We’ve been behind for so many years,” Allen County Assessor Stacey O’Day said. “We see this as an opportunity to get out there and get a jump start … to make sure our data is cleansed and ready to go.”
Reassessment no longer means the massive change in assessed value it once did.
Instead, it gives county officials a chance to inspect each property and make sure a home is relatively unchanged in terms of size and amenities.
For example, if a swimming pool were removed or a spare room added to a property, that would be noted, and assessors’ records would be updated.
The inventory ensures that owners aren’t assessed for more or less than what they own. Assessments form the basis of tax bills.
“We want to make sure it is fair,” O’Day said.
Trending, the annual adjustment of values based on market sales, will continue. Trending should ensure that homeowners don’t see huge increases when they eventually get tax bills in 2012, the first year to reflect the latest reassessment, O’Day said.
O’Day, the legislative liaison for the statewide assessors association, is urging counties to begin the 18-month process despite the legally allowed delay.
She has already organized a reassessment team to begin preliminary checks in Allen County. Their work will help gauge how fast assessing staff can check properties in rural and urban areas. She plans to do the work in-house.
Finishing a complete reassessment in 18 months would be a challenge for a large county like Allen. Having more time to balance the work with other duties like annual trending will ensure that tax bills are mailed out on time between now and 2012, O’Day said.
Kosciusko County plans to get started on its reassessment as well, Assessor Laurie Renier said.
“The work needs to be done regardless,” she said.
Several months ago, Adams County signed a $400,000 contract with a vendor to handle reassessment, and officials are ready to start this year, Assessor Judy Affolder said.
Huntington County Assessor Terri Boone would like to start reassessing her county’s 22,500 parcels now. But the commissioners haven’t approved a contract with a vendor; they were waiting to see whether legislators would delay the process.
The commissioners were also concerned about the $429,000 cost, which is lower than in 2002, Boone said.
The year delay also gives assessors time to convince legislators to allow rolling reassessments – a change in the process in which counties would re-evaluate 25 percent of all types of properties each year, O’Day said.
It is more cost-effective and allows counties to spread out the work, she said.
O’Day hopes lawmakers study the issue this summer so a measure can be considered during the next General Assembly session.
